FREE Brass Quintets: BRAVURA & SEMPER FIDELIS

[the elephant]

Go nuts…

BRAVURA

Semper Fidelis

[the elephant]

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[Mary Ann]

Sounds great -- the new quintet the brass band just formed can do this and will love it.
Thank you again and as always!!

[Bassboner]

I will be releasing some of my other stuff through the fall, but will stop by December as I will be way too busy. In the spring, I plan to arrange a whole bunch of ceremonial music. ALL of the stuff I have played from the quintet rep of this nature is… somewhat lacking…

Included in that will be the national anthems of the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, and Ukraine (all things we have needed recently), songs of the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Space Force, America the Beautiful, God Bless America, &c.

Watch for it. When you need it, you should have access to better stuff than what is currently for sale. These things need to be simple, serious, without Church organist improv chords, bizarre America's Got Talent melismas, or other silliness that detract from the ceremony and draw attention to the quintet. At gigs like this, you are paid to blend in and accompany; they are not recitals or your group's big moment to shine.

I am particularly disappointed in the Service Medleys that are available, even by some noted players. They are mostly horrible (IMHO) Hollywood perversions of what are supposed to be sober, serious music to accompany happenings at ceremonies. I nearly retched when reading some of these recently.

I also want to include content for MILITARY ceremonies, but some of it isn't legal for just anyone to use. For instance (at least when I served), "Hail to the Chief" can ONLY be played for the standing president or previous presidents. If you hear it in a movie, it has just enough changes to the melody to be legally permissible. Therefore, you cannot purchase a "correct" copy. Used to be that one could only get HttC through the Armed Forces School of Music or one of the premier bands, with permission, only if playing a verified POTUS gig. (I have to check into this specific issue, though. Things change. It used to be *very* illegal to use real US currency in movies and TV shows. That's not the case today, though.)

Anyway, that list would include stuff like "Hail to the Chief", "Hail, Columbia!", "The General's March", "The Flag Officer's March", "Ruffles and Flourishes", etc.

The chances you will ever need these are slim; however, with the drawdowns to the military band field that have been quietly going on for decades… you never know. One day your quintet may be engaged to help render honors to Admiral Muckity Muck before he makes a speech, and having an accurate version of such music would really help in that regard. I have had to play "The General's March" at several funerals over the past 30 years, which I never expected. I also had to play HttC for Dubbya when he came here many moons ago.]

I had to zoom my browser to read all of that. As a former military musician, I totally agree. I did a special arrangement of all the service songs and the anthem for my tbone quartet so we can play without embarrassment at the VA (Veterans Admin). I have specific memories of all of that stuff, even after ~35 years. It hurts my ears to play the anthem in the wrong key or with the wrong tempo cadences. Plus I needed a Space Force version for the group.

Anyway, my quintet gets a lot of use from your Christmas arrangements, and I'm sure we will use your other stuff just as much. I'm waiting by the keyboard to download it as it lands.

[Mary Ann]

@the elephant -- you are leaving a legacy that so many of us appreciate. Thank you.

[the elephant]

Updated.

[the elephant]

Working on Alford's "Army of the Nile". Previews to follow…

[arpthark]

Have you thought about contacting Bryan Doughty at Cimarron or anyone and seeing about getting this stuff published?

[Mary Ann]

Have you thought about contacting Bryan Doughty at Cimarron or anyone and seeing about getting this stuff published?

The problem with that is you lose the copyright. I lost the copyright to some very excellent duets (for tubas) that have languished ever since. I suppose I should do what Wade is doing and just release them, except for the fact that I no longer hold the copyright and CANNOT release them this way legally. So they are lost. I advise against "having them published" for this reason -- he won't make any money off it anyway. In a good year I got maybe $30 from a horn quartet that is still carried by Hickey's and in Europe but nobody can get it because the publisher has retired and so therefore has the music, which I do not have legal access to.

[arpthark]

Have you thought about contacting Bryan Doughty at Cimarron or anyone and seeing about getting this stuff published?

The problem with that is you lose the copyright. I lost the copyright to some very excellent duets (for tubas) that have languished ever since. I suppose I should do what Wade is doing and just release them, except for the fact that I no longer hold the copyright and CANNOT release them this way legally. So they are lost. I advise against "having them published" for this reason -- he won't make any money off it anyway. In a good year I got maybe $30 from a horn quartet that is still carried by Hickey's and in Europe but nobody can get it because the publisher has retired and so therefore has the music, which I do not have legal access to.

Thanks, honestly had no idea about any of that.

[the elephant]

If things work out, I plan on buying a Keocera 11"x17" B&W laser printer and selling hard copies directly from a webstore. First, I have to build up a fairly sizable library. I eat 100% of the costs, but net 100% of the profit.

These that I give away are valuable as pre-production versions to help me out with editing. I am pretty thorough, but no matter how great a job I do of page layout or editing, SOMETHING gets missed. In exchange for beta testing my stuff, the testers get free copies that are perfectly usable.

I am not out to make big bucks in this field, which is terrible for making money. I simply enjoy the work as an intellectual exercise.

[Mary Ann]

People are going to xerox them no matter what you do. If I decided to sell my stuff it would be inexpensive digital download.